Jose Morales of Springfield gets 7-10 years for repeated sexual assault of boy

SPRINGFIELD – A 32-year-old city man is serving a seven- to 10-year state prison term for the sexual assault of a young boy over a number of years.

The sentence was imposed on Thursday in Hampden Superior Court for Jose Morales after a jury convicted him of three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14 and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child age 14 or older.

This marked Morales’ second conviction for child sexual assault. He had been sent to jail in 2000 for assaulting another young boy.

In the latest case, the jury heard testimony from a now-17-year-old victim in a trial that was conducted before Judge Mary Lou Rup. The prosecutor, assistant district attorney Patrick S. Sabbs, said the victim had first been indecently assaulted by Morales, a family acquaintance, when he was between the age of 7 and 10 and before Morales went to jail. Those allegations were not brought to light until after Morales served a jail term and renewed the attacks on the boy after his release, Sabbs said.

In the 2000 case Morales pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14. He was sentenced to 18 months in the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow followed by a three-year probationary term.